Having successfully completed their Kickstarter initiative, casting is well and truly underway with these two the first additions. Deen will play protagonist Christian, a "trust fund kid, power player and major manipulator, who is a film producer that enjoys filming his own three-way sex sessions," while Lohan will play his girlfriend/former model, Tara, who "has sold her pride for the material comforts Christian can provide." Three other lead roles remain unfilled including Ryan, a bartender and young actor who is angling for a role in Christian's horror movie; Gina, who works for Ryan and is in love with him and is also looking for a role in the horror pic, and finally, Lindsay, a former actress turned yoga instructor who is sleeping with Christian, and falling in love with him.

Lohan's casting seems to be a smart marketing/PR move on both parties' behalf: the micro-indie "The Canyons" will now receive a boatload of free press coverage throughout production while providing Lohan -- who is currently involved in a bit of a car crash scandal (and of course filming "Liz & Dick" for Lifetime) -- another outlet for her seemingly never-ending comeback.

"The Canyons," billed as the antithesis of MTV's "The Hills," will follow a small group of young twenty-somethings trying to make it in Los Angeles. A highly publicized open casting call went out for the film, and we'll soon see who joins Lohan and Deen. Lensing will take place in July with a VOD/Netflix-style release planned in the future.

Ellis has also revealed on Twitter that he's interested in and has approached Universal and Focus Features about adapting E.L. James' controversial and popular erotic novel "FiftyShades Of Grey" that they snapped up the rights to earlier this year. The novel does seem somewhat in the writer's wheelhouse (psychological, sexually-charged material in an urban setting with well-off protagonists) with Ellis also going on to namedrop David Cronenberg as his ideal director. Here are a collection of tweets regarding the pitch, which we'll surely hear all about soon enough:

- "Completely committed to adapting Fifty Shades of Grey. This is not a joke. Christian Grey and Ana: potentially great cinematic characters."
- "Hope E.L. James doesn't think I'm being a prankster. I really want to adapt her novels for the screen. Christian Grey is a writer's dream..."
- "Today the team has been briefed and we will be approaching the studio this week about BEE adapting "Fifty Shades of Grey" into a film."
- "The casting of Christian in "Fifty Shades of Grey" wouldn't be up to me but I have certain actors in mind. And a particular actress for Ana."
- "I think David Cronenberg is a great idea for directing Fifty Shades of Grey and we worked together on American Psycho in its initial phase."

Good luck with that....Finally, we've also got a trailer for a short film featuring Lohan and scored by Thomas Bangalter, one half of Daft Punk. Helmed by artist Richard Phillips, the "surf-noir" is evidently inspired by "Lost Highway" and Greg MacGillivray and Jim Freeman's "Free And Easy." The short is co-directed by Taylor Steele, edited by Jay Rabinowitz and will appear at Art Unlimited in Basel. [via Stereogum]